Impact of Variable Renewable Energy on European Cross-Border Electricity Transmission

Title

Impact of Variable Renewable Energy on European Cross-Border Electricity Transmission

 Author

Brancucci Martinez-Anido, C.
De Vries, L.J.
Fulli, G.

Faculty

Technology, Policy and Management

 Department

Infrastructures, Systems and Services

 Date

2012-06-18

 Abstract

The estimated growth of Europe’s electricity demand and the policy goals of mitigating climate change result in an expected increase in variable renewable energy. A high penetration of wind and solar energy will bring several new challenges to the European electricity transmission network. The objective of this paper is to understand the effects of a high penetration of variable renewable energy sources (RES) on the demand for cross-border electricity transmission in Europe. EUPowerDispatch, a minimum cost dispatch model is used to compare the impacts of different electricity generation and transmission portfolios on crossborder electricity transmission in 2025. The analysis makes use of the best-estimate scenario developed by the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSOE). Wind and solar energy curtailment needs and variations in load duration curves are analyzed for different scenarios. In addition, the role of hydro energy storage and pumping is analyzed as a complementary technology to transmission in the context of a high penetration of variable RES. The study shows that the planned expansion of the European transmission network is adequate for meeting the expected RES increase and it is needed to maintain the current level of security of supply in the face of the expected demand growth. If RES growth is faster than expected, cross-border transmission capacity will have to increase accordingly if significant RES curtailment is to be avoided.

 Subject

renewable energy
electricity transmission
hydro storage

 To reference this document use:

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:79dc1a74-5cac-4cae-ac79-c7d8c73cc948

 Source

CESUN 2012: 3rd International Engineering Systems Symposium, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands, 18-20 June 2012

 Part of collection

Institutional Repository

 Document type

conference paper

 Rights

(c) 2012 The Author(s)
Creative Commons BY NC ND
Files
PDF Brancucci_Martinez-Anido_2012.pdf 1.57 MB
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